I'm finally getting started on the new tank build, so I figured I'd document this one better than the last one..
In our new (new to us, at least) house, one wall in my office backs up to an unused 13'x12' bedroom. After poking the ceiling with a hat pin and figuring out where the ceiling joists are and which way they run, I've determined that the wall isn't load-bearing (later confirmed with a small hole in the ceiling that will be for an exhaust fan). The plan is to cut out a large opening in the wall, frame it like an open doorway, and park a tank in it, with the bedroom serving as fish room.
I figure the tank will be 84" long, 24" tall, and 32" deep. I'll have a starphire front panel, two corner overflows, PVC bottom, and a metal stand that's 40" tall.
Here's the plan from DSA (the two drains in each overflow are for redundancy / emergency):
Here's a simple sketch of what I'm planning..
There'll be a set of panels on the top that either come off or lift up for front access, and the bottom panels will likely be doors, so that I have access to the sump from both front and back. A couple of days ago, I got out a level and some painter's tape to get a feel for how it should look. I have a couple of outlets to move, but that's relatively trivial.
In the fish room itself, I plan to have two 65g barrels plumbed inline for doing painless water changes, a 100g refugium, and about eight feet of counter space for qt tank / testing / microscopy / etc with cabinets above.
I've already taken out the mirrored closet doors and framing for the closet, to maximize the space in the room. I'll patch up the holes with drywall I carefully removed from around the closet.
Here's the plumbing plan for the water change vessels. By flipping two ball valves, I will instantly do a 65g water change.
I ran two 20a dedicated circuits to the room as well.
This is going to be a
slow build. I'm going to pay down the credit card bill from ordering the tank and stand before I start moving on to sump, skimmer, pumps, cabinets, countertops, etc. Not only does this keep my blood pressure down, it also gives us time to do fun things..
I've decided to turn my wife loose on the walls before I clutter them up..
She's been looking at stencils..
http://www.etsy.com/listing/64792896/stencil-large-octopus-wall-stencil?ref=v1_other_1http://www.etsy.com/listing/60601878/stencil-for-walls-nautilus-large-stencilhttp://www.etsy.com/listing/61232339/crustacea-wall-stencils-reusable-lobster?ref=v1_other_2http://www.etsy.com/listing/61276160/stencil-jellyfish-large-wall-stencil?ref=sr_gallery_31http://www.etsy.com/listing/79440240/stencil-sea-shells-set-of-three-these?ref=v1_other_2http://www.stenciledinteriors.com/Merchant2/merchant.mv?Screen=CTGY&Store_Code=0001&Category_Code=fishTo the person who invented popcorn ceilings: "May the fleas of one thousand camels infest your privates!"
Spent some time this weekend looking at paint chips, having samples mixed up, and daubing it on the walls..
I think we have a plan. Going for a sand textured paint from the floor up to about 40-42 inches, then a blue color from there up to the ceiling. We'll paint the bottom cabinets the same sandy color (without the sand texture) and the upper cabinets the same blue. We also found some sand-colored countertops.
We've got knock-down textured walls all over the house. As an experiment, I lightly sanded a patch in the closet, then put a skim coat of drywall compound over it with a tape knife, just to level the texture. A light sanding later, and it looks like a regular un-textured wall.
I'm going to paint it and make sure it doesn't crack or peel- if this works, I may do the same to all of the room above the 'sand' line.